What is the situation on the ground in Gaza?
On March 18, 2025, Israel launched a series of deadly airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, indiscriminately killing over 2,200 Palestinians and wounding 5,700 others. This comes after months of attacks against Palestinians and a blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even after the “ceasefire” began on January 19, 2025.
As of May 22, 2025, over 61,700 Palestinians have been killed, 117,729 injured, and 1.9 million displaced in the Gaza Strip. Hospitals and shelters remain a target amidst Israel’s ongoing blockade, further exacerbating malnutrition and poor health.
Islamic Relief teams are actively assessing the situation on the ground and scaling up efforts to address urgent needs, including medical support, emergency food, and clean water.
Is Islamic Relief currently distributing any aid in Gaza?
Islamic Relief staff and partners, including the World Food Programme, have worked tirelessly since the blockade went into effect on March 2, 2025. Since then, we have delivered daily hot meals, clean water, hygiene items, and clothes using existing supplies that were previously brought into Gaza during the ceasefire.
Here is what we have delivered together so far:
🍴 Over 70 million ready-to-eat meals
🥬 282,327 packs of fresh vegetables, including tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, lemons, onions, peppers, garlic
🎈 Psychosocial support to 100,533 children and 503 women
📦 Over 28,000 food parcels containing staples like pasta, rice, tomato paste, vegetable oil, and cans of beans, meat, and fish
🛏️ Mattresses, blankets, and plastic sheets to 34,704 households
💧 68,786 hygiene kits containing soap, shampoo, sanitary pads, diapers, towels, etc.
🩺 13,049 people received access to healthcare services
💊 Nutritional supplements to over 35,000 pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and young children
🚰 Clean drinking water to a daily average of 60,000 people
However, our food stocks are now completely depleted. While our team and partners search for new opportunities to bring back our daily hot meals and food supply distributions, we continue to offer other lifesaving activities every day. This includes:
- Cleaning communal shelters for displaced families to prevent the spread of disease
- Working with health facilities to provide maternal care to hundreds of pregnant women
- Supporting over 20,000 orphaned children and their guardians with cash payments to help them purchase essentials
Despite the ongoing challenges on the ground, your consistent support and advocacy continues to save lives.
What is our Qurbani process in Gaza this year?
Qurbani animals will be procured and slaughtered in Egypt, then immediately frozen and securely stored until we obtain the necessary permits for transportation into Gaza.
If the trucks are denied entry for any reason and distribution of meat is no longer feasible within Gaza, then our distribution will instead be directed to vulnerable Palestinians in the West Bank or displaced Palestinians in Egypt.
What are the urgent needs in Gaza at the moment?
Based on our assessments, the most urgent needs in Gaza are:
- Access to clean drinking water
- Food assistance for displaced families
- Psychosocial support, especially for children who have endured significant trauma
- Temporary shelter for those whose homes has been destroyed
- Medical care for the injured and vulnerable populations
How much money has Islamic Relief spent in Gaza?
As a global family, Islamic Relief has been able to send $94M CAD into Gaza since the escalations began in October 2023. The money is transferred to our implementing partner Islamic Relief Worldwide in the United Kingdom, which is then transferred to Islamic Relief staff in Gaza through local partners.
Our staff in Gaza are using your donations to locally procure food, hygiene supplies, bedding, and any other essential item we can source. They screen and contract local suppliers and partners, who procure either locally or through private trading routes between Gaza and Egypt. With the level of our procurement, donations are routed through wire transfers to their Palestinian bank accounts.
What areas is Islamic Relief working in?
Islamic Relief is presently active in Rafah, Khan Younis, Deir Al Balah, Zawayda, Gaza City and North Gaza. We have recently extended our work in North Gaza to reach Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahya, and Jabaliya.
Our emergency response efforts are being conducted in collaboration with the World Food Program and 6 local partners: some who are distributing humanitarian aid in North Gaza. Each partner is assigned Islamic Relief staff to oversee project implementation.
What are Islamic Relief’s long-term plans for Gaza?
Humanitarian needs remain urgent, with hundreds of thousands displaced in tents and in critical condition. For this reason, our ongoing work on the ground is focused on emergency relief, including the distribution of hot meals and hygiene items, as well as providing access to clean water and medical aid.
We are committed to supporting our Palestinian brothers and sisters to rebuild in a sustainable manner. Our long-term development plan includes:
- Repair: We are looking to repair and rehabilitate vital infrastructure including community centres, homes, schools, and hospitals.
- Shelter: Providing families with transitional shelters while their homes are rebuilt, as well as kitchen sets and solar powered energy systems.
- Livelihood: Creating paid employment opportunities for skilled and non-skilled workers who have lost their livelihoods – including hiring labourers to help remove rubble and employing Gazans in the health and agriculture sectors.
- Education: Supporting children to kickstart their education by providing educational kits and school bags, as well as providing schools with furniture and equipment.
- Medical: Strengthening healthcare systems by providing medical supplies and other support to improve the quality and accessibility of medical services, especially for women, children, elderly people, and people with disabilities.
I have family in Gaza, why can't you help them?
We understand the desire to direct aid to specific individuals, however, to maintain equal access, we are unable to fulfill such requests. We consistently work to diversify our distribution points, ensuring that aid reaches as many people as possible.
It is important to note that no person will be denied aid at our distributions; however, our commitment to equity drives us to prioritize equal access for all. Our focus remains on supporting shelters to the best of our ability and providing assistance through our local partners.
